The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for evaluating driving skill of a driver who drives an automobile vehicle or a two-wheeled motor vehicle and an apparatus and a method for informing a driver who drives a vehicle of efficiency of a driver's physical load to a driving operation of the vehicle.
In the evaluation of a characteristic of a driver who drives an automobile vehicle, the evaluation of drivability of an automobile vehicle, the operational support control for supporting an operation activity of a driver who drives an automobile vehicle to control the behavior of the automobile vehicle and the like, information of the automobile vehicle that is being driven or biological information of the driver who is driving are currently used.
For example, JP 2003-81040 A (publication1) discloses a driving technique diagnostic device including determination means for determining a driving technique level of a driver (for example, the level of proficiency of the driving technique or the degree of risk in driving) based on driving information regarding an automobile vehicle (for example, the number of engine revolutions obtained by a depressed accelerator pedal or clutch pedal, the number of revolutions of a transmission input shaft or the like). The driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 classifies the driving technique of the driver into one of the levels or judges whether or not the driving technique of the driver is at a given level based on the driving information. The driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 can inform the other drivers driving in the surrounding area, for example, of low proficiency of the driving technique of the driver, the high risk in driving, or the like based on the result of judgment. In publication1, the use of the driving technique diagnostic device as described above allows the realization of safe and smooth drive.
Moreover, for example, JP 2002-230699 A (publication2 discloses an operation load judgment device which uses information of myoelectric potentials of a plurality of muscles involved in a vehicle driving operation activity performed by a driver to judge the degree of operation load placed on the driver. In the operation load judgment device disclosed in publication2, for the myoelectric potentials of a plurality of muscles involved in a vehicle driving operation activity, a competitive value for the competition between the myoelectric potentials is calculated. Based on the calculated competitive value, the degree of operation load on the driver is judged. The operation load judgment device disclosed in publication2 can judge the degree of load placed on the driver, which is caused by the difficulty of the driving operation activity in that, for example, the driver is not able to control an automobile as he/she wants (i.e., as expected for the driving operation) based on measured values of the myoelectric potentials of both arms of the driver. Then, the obtained result of judgment is applied to a lane change system, an obstacle warning system, or the like to enable the correction of the contents of control. In the operation load judgment system disclosed in publication2, for example, it is considered that, the more the load placed on the driver increases, the less the driver feels a sense of relaxation. Thus, based on the result of judgment, an alarm output or control intervention is corrected.
As described above, the driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 judges the technical level of a driver (for example, the proficiency of a driving technique or the risk in driving) based uniquely on the driving information related to the automobile vehicle (for example, the number of engine revolutions obtained by the depressed accelerator pedal or clutch pedal, the number of revolutions of the transmission input shaft, or the like). Such a driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 is not able to quantitatively evaluate the technique level of the driver with high accuracy. For example, it is assumed that one of a plurality of different drivers performs a driving operation under higher tension at a higher level of concentration, and therefore, under a greater physical load as well as a greater mental load. It is also assumed that the other drivers perform a driving operation in a more relaxed state under a less physical load as well as a less mental load. The driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 judges the technique levels of these different drivers as approximately the same if the driving information of each of the drivers during driving is the same (when the drivers drive the same types of automobile vehicle in the same manner, specifically, the number of engine revolutions obtained by the depressed accelerator pedal or clutch pedal, the number of revolutions of the transmission input shaft, or the like is the same for each of the drivers). Even when the same driving operation is performed, the driving operation is performed in a more relaxed state under a less physical load as well as a less mental load as the driver has a higher technical level. In the above-mentioned example, the driver who performs a driving operation in a more relaxed state under a less physical load as well as a less mental load should be judged as having a higher technical level. As described above, the driving technique diagnostic device disclosed in publication1 is disadvantageous in that the driving technique level cannot be quantitatively determined with high accuracy in consideration of the state of the driver as described above.
Moreover, the operation load judgment device disclosed in publication2 measures the myoelectric potentials of both arms to calculate the competitive value between the myoelectric potentials of both arms. Then, based on the calculated competitive value, the degree of load placed on the driver, which is caused by the difficulty in the driving operation activity in that the driver is not able to control an automobile as he/she wants (i.e., as expected for the driving operation). However, the vehicle driving operation activity is for steering the vehicle by the movement of muscles of the driver. Thus, if active steering (e.g., complicated steering in a short period of time) is required, it is natural that the competitive value between the myoelectric potentials becomes large. The operation load judgment device disclosed in publication2 inevitably judges that the degree of load placed on the driver (e.g., the load caused by the difficulty in that the driver is not able to control the automobile as he/she wants) is relatively high when the driver steers the vehicle in an active manner even though the driver actually controls the automobile as he/she wants. If such a result of judgment is applied to the lane change system, the obstacle warning system, or the like, it is judged that the driver's relaxation level is low even though an actual operation load is not that large. As a result, there arises a problem that the alarm output or the control intervention is needlessly performed.